No, I didn’t. I really didn’t. My manager called me and he said, ‘Do you know who Jesse Owens is?’ and I sort of scratched my head a little bit. But after reading the script and researching who he was, I was blown away by what he had done and the fact that I didn’t know any of it.” - Stephan James on not knowing who Jesse Owens was, unfortunately.

“When I found out, every off day I had on Selma I would basically go down to Georgia Tech in Atlanta and start training with the track and field coaches there.” - Stephan James on his preparation for the role.

“For me, any actor would have to sort of research what that was like, especially when you’re dealing with period pieces like a Selma in the 1960s during the civil rights movement or in the 1930s, so for me it was just a process and understanding those times you know because it’s different than these times. It was much different.”

“More than anything I think it’s great that people are talking about it, that they’re raising the issue and it’s in discussion. Personally, I think that this film is a clear example that it doesn’t matter what you look like or where you come from, that you’re able to accomplish great things. That’s what Jesse embodied.” - Stephan James on the oscars controversy.

“When I went over to Berlin for the first time and I walked up to that stadium— It’s still there. They actually renamed the street ‘Jesse Owens Alley,’ after Jesse Owens. And you go into this stadium and I mean, I got chills walking up to it for the first time just thinking about what had happened there, eighty years later.”

“Sometimes I do like watching The View (laughs). It’s funny to watch that.” - Stephan James on his guilty pleasure.